Jemena’s Western Sydney Green Gas Project is demonstrating the potential role that green gas will play in the transition to a carbon-free energy system. Located in Horsley Park, the project is producing green hydrogen on-site which is injected into the local natural gas distribution network. The project is also investigating green gas applications such as energy storage and power generation. This setup provides a unique opportunity to investigate different use cases and services to identify how green hydrogen can best help accelerate the energy transition.

Video: ARENA Insights spotlight interview with Jarrod Irving - Project Manager Renewables, Jemena

Watch our interview with Jemena  

Households and businesses in Sydney’s eastern suburbs will soon be cooking with a greener blend of gas thanks to the Jemena Malabar Biomethane Injection Project at Sydney Water’s wastewater treatment plant. This facility already generates large quantities of biogas, which is usually flared or used for power generation. Jemena’s project will involve upgrading the gas to biomethane and then injecting it into the local gas network. According to the project’s Life Cycle Assessment, this would result in 91% emissions reduction compared to the regular gas network. The project will therefore provide a valuable demonstration of how to use an existing resource to help decarbonise sectors reliant on natural gas.

Video: ARENA Insights spotlight interview with Peter Harcus - General Manager Renewable Gas, Jemena

Watch our interview with Jemena 

Read Jemena’s Proof of Concept Life Cycle Assessment 

Read Jemena’s Lessons Learnt Report 

Wodonga and Ballarat in Victoria, and Port Adelaide in South Australia are the focus of feasibility studies exploring injecting green hydrogen into the local natural gas network. The Australian Hydrogen Centre (AHC) commissioned the studies, which provide a detailed and valuable perspective on the potential role that green hydrogen could play to help decarbonise regional areas.The Wodonga study led to a successful submission to ARENA’s Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round and the project is now progressing towards financial close to build the 10 MW Hydrogen Park Murray Valley project proposed in the study.

Image: Artist’s impression of the proposed hydrogen project facility at Wodonga (source: AHC)
 

Read AHC’s feasibility study for Wodonga 

Read AHC’s feasibility study for Port Adelaide 

Read AHC’s feasibility study for Ballarat 

Australia has enough biomethane to replace 25% of the natural gas used in Australia's gas pipelines, according to Australia’s Bioenergy Roadmap. In 2022, ARENA supported Bioenergy Australia to commission a study into the benefits of injecting biomethane into natural gas networks to displace conventional gas. Opportunities and priorities are presented, including amending the relevant Australian standard (AS4564).

Image: Malabar Wastewater Treatment Plant (source: Sydney Water)

Read Bioenergy Australia's gas injection review 

Thermal Energy Storage

• The Advancing Renewables with Phase Change Materials Thermal Energy Storage project aims to demonstrate the technical and economic value of thermal energy storage. Read Glaciem’s case study and White Paper.

Battery Storage

• The Smart Sodium Storage System project worked to develop and integrate a new type of sodium-ion battery in a low-cost, modular and expandable energy storage system. Read the University of Wollongong’s Final Report.

Hydrogen

• The Australian National University (ANU) and University of Wollongong (UoW) have produced the final report for their Hydrogen Generation by Electro-Catalytic Systems R&D project. Read the Final Project Report.
   
• The final report of the CSIRO’s Hydrogen to Ammonia Research and Development project summarises the successes and lessons learned in developing a prototype reactor system capable of producing a kilogram of ammonia per day. Read the CSIRO’s final report.

Distributed Energy Resources

• Project EDGE (Energy Demand and Generation Exchange) is a multi-year project to demonstrate an off-market, proof-of-concept Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Marketplace. Read the Project EDGE Public Customer Insight and Engagement Study and the Interim Public Report.
   
• Indra Monash has published the final report for their Smart Energy City project that investigated how smart and renewable technologies can be integrated at the Monash University Clayton embedded network. Read the Indra Monash Smart Energy City Final Report.
   
• The Climate-KIC Australia Residential Heat Pump Study Final Report provides the findings of a three-year study on the demonstration of ground source heat pumps at a master planned residential establishment in Sydney. Read Climate-KIC Australia’s Final Report.

Electric Vehicles

• The Engie Public Fast Charging project is delivering 103 fast charging stations across 4 regions of Australia. Read Engie’s full Lessons Learnt Report that focuses on EV uptake in Australia and possible charger congestion issues.
   
• Origin’s EV Smart-Charging Trial demonstrates the large-scale use of smart chargers to manage residential and fleet electric vehicle charging. Read Origin’s Lessons Learnt 2 Report with learnings from the project to date.
   
• Chargefox is building 16 fast charging stations across Adelaide and Perth that will increase the availability of public fast charging infrastructure. Read their first Lessons Learnt Report that focuses on the initial construction phases of the project.
   
• Evie Networks is working to deliver 158 fast charging stations across eight regions in Australia. Read Evie Networks’ first Lessons Learnt Report that focuses on operating public fast charging stations as a sustainable business.
   
• The Realising Electric Vehicle-to-Grid Services project seeks to unlock the full economic and grid benefits of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services in Australia. Read ACTEWAGL’s Lessons Learnt Report that focuses on the certification of V2G chargers in Australia.

Large-scale Integration

• The University of Wollongong has been investigating the impact and management of harmonic distortion in large renewable generators. Read the Uni of Wollongong’s report which concludes that some of the existing practices for managing harmonic distortion may be increasing grid connection times and costs.

Renewables for Industry

• Australian Industry ETI’s project aims to accelerate action by Australian industry towards net zero emissions in hard-to-abate sectors by 2050. Read the Australian Industry ETI Phase 2 Report.
   
• Shell Energy implemented the Advancing Renewables in Manufacturing Project with funding from ARENA, the Queensland State Government and Australian Industry Group. Read Shell’s report that analyses the energy use at 20 large energy users in Queensland and opportunities for decarbonisation through improving energy productivity, electrification and switching to renewables.

Solar PV R&D

• This is the ninth annual Advanced Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) report, with activities supported by ARENA to advance solar R&D and commercialisation in Australia. Read ACAP’s Annual Report.
   
• South Australia Power Networks Flexible Exports for Solar PV Trial project aims to produce a flexible connection option for rooftop solar PV systems to avoid curtailment of rooftop PV in congested areas. Read the latest Flexible Exports Lessons Learnt Report.
   
• The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has completed their Advanced High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells project that brought together leaders in the field from academia and industry to accelerate commercialisation. Read UNSW’s Final Project Report.
   
• A team from the UNSW have investigated methods and benefits of different solar PV module cooling technologies. Read UNSW’s Final Project Report.

Marine Energy

• Wave Swell’s UNiWave200 King Island Project involved the design, construction, deployment, installation and operation of a 200kW wave energy converter near Grassy Harbour on King Island, Tasmania. Read Wave Swell’s Lessons Learnt Report 1, Lessons Learnt Report 2 and Lessons Learnt Report 3.
   

Visit ARENA's Knowledge Bank for more.